Sunderland go into a crucial game at Selhurst Park buoyed by a good point taken off title-chasing Tottenham Hotspur which gives a sliver of hope to the road support. Those that will be making the long journey to South London will have a degree of optimism after Sunderland became only the third team to stop Spurs from scoring in the Premier League.
Now they face former manager Sam Allardyce, who engineered an unlikely reprieve from the drop last season, as well as Patrick van Aanholt, who is in line to make his Palace debut and whose departure came amid some acrimony at the Stadium of Light.